The social news app News With Friends offers people a no-tracking feature called Hide that turns off data collection entirely so the platform cannot see their activity. Reading news without being monitored helps people to escape their filter bubbles.

News With Friends helps people stay connected to what’s important in the world. Providing the option to Hide makes the platform a trustworthy space where people can feel safe exploring news with alternative perspectives from a range of sources they might not normally follow.

The feature was introduced in response to the widespread misuse of personal data on social networks and excessive tracking data collected by ad networks. It allows people to use all the features of the app in a hidden state.

CTO Graham Tackley said, “The way this feature works is simple. The app checks to see if it is allowed to trigger analytics events for a customer before sending their usage data through to our analytics tools. If they have chosen to ‘Hide’ via their Settings screen then the app doesn’t send anything. Nothing is recorded. There is no data about the person’s activity at all.

This is the first in a series of more advanced privacy features we’re working on.”

No-tracking is a unique feature to News With Friends. Social platforms and news apps collect vast amounts of usage data from their customers, but they don’t give them the option to turn off tracking.

CEO Matt McAlister said, “News With Friends is a different kind of news app. This is a space people can trust, a place where people can feel connected to what’s going on in the world without being observed or judged or, worse, manipulated by anyone.

Platforms need to start trading on utility and integrity over user engagement. The winners will do more for people with less data about them.”

News With Friends was built by the team at Kaleida Networks, a media research and data services company based in the UK. The app uses the same data and tools Kaleida provides as a service to its customers.